Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Book Review: Farm Fresh Southern Cooking by Tammy Algood

It's the season for farmers' markets and u-pick produce! Tammy Algood has written Farm Fresh Southern Cooking to help you use what you find at those venues in delicious recipes. Along with those recipes, which are divided into sections like Appetizers, Soups, Salads, etc., you will find various Southern farmers' markets and homegrown businesses highlighted.

I like how the recipes are grouped, within each category, by type of produce. For example, you'll find recipes for Fresh Baked Eggplant and Balsamic Grilled Eggplant on the same page. The food photography, too, is pretty enough to make your mouth water! I appreciated how the author promoted local businesses and farmers' markets and would enjoy visiting some of them in the future.

While this is a fun cookbook to browse through, I don't know that I'll be trying many of the recipes myself. Most of them are a bit out of my family's "comfort zone" since, for better or worse, we tend to stay with flavor profiles and preparation techniques with which we're already familiar. However, I would definitely eat some of these foods if I found them in a restaurant - or on your table, if I were invited over for supper!

I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book by Thomas Nelson Publishers. All of the opinions expressed in this post are my own and I was not compensated for this review in any other way.